Friday, December 14, 2007

search engine optimization

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the art of making your site more accessible to the search engine spiders, as well as getting the maximum number of pages indexed. It is all about incorporating practices that search engines and users want.

Search engine optimization is a general terms helps a website to be highly visible on Internet। Now imagine that you have a website related to car and bike. But nobody will ever come to know that such a site related to car and bike exists. Even person living in your backyard won't be knowing anything about your website and you are not getting even single sale a day and then what's the meaning of using a website that doesn't working in favor of you.

Here search engine optimization comes in handy.Most of the business and visitors and you can directly say sales comes through different search engines using search terms such as Google, Yahoo, Alexa, MSN etc. using key phrase. Being on top of Google means free advertisement on the front page of a popular daily newspaper.Google counts for about 72% of total searches on the Internet with MSN on second position an around 22%. Google search more relevant sites more quickly, delivering the most relevant results. Google has developed a special system called Page rank to determine the importance of a Web Page by using voting system.Page Rank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value.That means how much Google providing importance to that page.

Google uses voting system. In essence, Google interprets a link from page x to page y as a vote, by page x, for page y. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. High-quality sites receive a higher PR, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, relevant pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your search. Along with Page rank there are some more terms that you should know like relevancy of page to search term, keyword density, prominency,proximity.

Let if page x links out to page y Back link: Page y is said to have a "back link" from page x.

Incoming link: Page y has incoming link from page x. As the link on x leads the visitor to Page y.

Outgoing link: Page x has outgoing link to page y.

Internal links: Internal link are those which leads a visitor to some other Web Page of the same website.

External link: If the link leads to some other website then it is called External link.Now more the number of incoming links and lesser the number of outgoing links, more it's beneficial for the website. Website will get more importance and hence higher the page rank.

Therefore the first step towards to get a good page rank is to get more incoming links. Increasing the internal links in your site can minimize the damage to your PR when you give away votes by linking to external sites. Getting more and more inbound links to your site is the only way to increase site's average PR.But what do think for finance site a link from furniture site is helpful. The answer is absolutely No.

The best way of increasing traffic on your web site to get more and more incoming incoming link in your favor.Now a days Link building is not the only factor that increase your popularity.

Alternatives of Link Building

In today’s ever-changing scenario a search engine optimization compagin can never be dependent of link exchange only. So we have other more effective alternatives like article submission, directory submission, search engine submission(On page and Off page) ,press release and forum posting RSS feed etc. By using these alternative search engine optimization methods we can boost the visibility, ranking, and traffic of client website.

Rajesh Gupta is a Web Designer with a company having well connected development infrastructure in India having a strong portfolio of International clients offering superior web design india and solutions at competitive costs.You can contact him at rajeshgupta.seo@gmail.com

SEO Services Life Cycle

Search Engine optimization and Website Promotion service is done in following phases:
PHASE: I - Site Analysis

Website code Analysis

Competition Analysis

Keyword Analysis

Link Popularity Analysis

Check for Broken site links


PHASE: II - Website Optimization Process

HTML code validation and repair

Keyword Research

Keywords Popularity analysis

Web page and Image Optimization

Meta Tags analysis and Keyword density


PHASE: III - Website Promotion Process

Sitemap creation and submission (ROR, XML, TXT)

Search engine submission

Directory submission

Creation and Submission of RSS Feeds


LS Blogs

PHASE: IV - Ongoing Link Popularity Process

Link exchange

Buying Links of High PR

Creating Blog

Article Submission

Submission of new posts and Feeds

Creating Bookmarks


PHASE: V - SEO Reporting and Final Analysis

E-Mail & Telephone support

Monthly Ranking Reports

SEO Tracking

The Blog
Directory

PHASE: VI - Site Monitoring and Maintenance

Monthly Ranking Reports

Optimization Tracking


Use following methods for Link Building as described below :-


Link Building Methods

RECIPROCAL LINK EXCHANGE

Link exchange by swapping links with website of good page rank

ONE WAY LINK EXCHANGE TECHNIQUES


Free

1. E-new letters

2. Contests / Games

3. E-Mail Service

4. Articles

5. Forums

6. Blogs

7. E-Mail Marketing

8. Publish Press Releases

9. White-papers

10. E-books

11. Profile Pages

12. Affiliate programs

Website Maintenance Services Need

Whether you have an internal web team or are exploring outsourced website maintenance services, it is necessary to determine the service needed for the various updates required to keep your content fresh and relevant. In short the why, how and where of your website maintenance.

Google seems to allow hidden content in some cases

"If the hidden content is a more-accessible-but-less-pretty version of the content that hides it--e.g. text behind an image containing those words--our quality measures should not mind. Of course, we suggest using the ALT and TITLE attributes of the IMG tag, which were designed for this very purpose (providing alternative text to replace images), but you are, of course, free to design your site as you see fit."

Role of Spider in SEO

Know Thy SEO Spider

NO I am not talking about the eight-legged hairy creatures of nightmares. These spiders are electronic, used by search engines, and if you ignore them they give you nightmares that will haunt you every waking moment.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about common sense; it doesn’t necessitate specific knowledge of algorithms, programming and classifications. All it requires is a basic understanding of how search engines spiders work. Taking care of the search engine spiders likes and dislikes can prove to be crucial for the health and success of your website.

The Spider at Work

They are called spiders because they crawl over the Web in search of content. Search engines gather data about a website by ‘sending’ the spider or bots to ‘read’ the site and copy its content. This content is stored in the search engine’s database. As they copy and absorb content from one document, they create record links and send other bots to make copies of content on those linked documents this process goes on and on. As of now the major search engines have established databases that measure their size in the tens of billions using this process.

Spiders are designed to read site content like a human. It will start at the top left hand corner, reading line by line. In case of columns spiders will read the left hand column before moving to central and right hand column. It will read and record the whole site to the very last word.

Likes of the Spider

Provide clear paths for spiders to follow, put easy to follow text links directed to the most important pages in the site at the bottom of each document. The sitemap is the most important link in the site as it directs spiders through the website.

Provide as much relevant key word rich text as possible. Search engine spiders read the text that is on your Web site to decide if your site is relevant or not. If they do not find the keyword being searched they will simply ignore your site and move to the next site. Also make sure the text is relevant and makes sense.

Provide clear identification between areas that to be used and areas that are off limit to the spiders.

Provide clear titles; after the URL of a site, the first information a spider records is the title of the site. Titles should have the most important keyword targets.

Provide a well written Description Meta tag. Search engines use Description Meta tag to collect information on the topic or theme of the site.

Dislikes of the Spider

Avoid Very large volume in content. Spiders can only download a fraction of the Web pages within a given time frame, so if you have too much it might skip the most important parts.

Avoid dynamic page generation, spiders generally tend to avoid pages having any resources that have a "?" i.e. dynamic in nature. Stick to static generation spiders prefer them.

Avoid too many graphics. Spiders are not fond of graphics as they are not readable for them so keep it simple.

Avoid Key word misuse. Doesn’t just string a lot of keywords together, remember the spiders are very smart and they will ban you for spamming.

In conclusion……..

The whole point of the article is to reinforce that Search Engine Optimization starts with the designing of your website. It is not something that can be added as an enhancement later on.

Knowing the way around the spider might just make you king of the web.

Keywords --- Key to SEO Success

Keywords are one of the most crucial tools for you, that is if you want to score on search engines. And believe me you do.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is essential for the success of almost every business. Majority of traffic to websites is brought in by search engines if search engines ignore your site, you are as good as invisible.

Key words

Keywords are words and phrases that web users put into search engines when they are looking for particular topics, services or products.

Optimizing your website so it turns up in the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) search engine ranking of pages, can spell success for you. Only if you choose the right keywords can you begin on the winning trail of SEO.

Deciding on keywords

How exactly do you choose keywords- this is a precise art:

First you must prepare a list of your product/services workings. Every word that describes product/service must be included. Not that all the words will be used but it’s handy to have a database.

Secondly you must identify your target audience. Choosing effective keywords is about putting yourself in your audience’s shoes. Research their tastes, likes-dislikes, their needs and requirements.

The next stage is to judge the value of the words and phrases on your list have as search terms. For this there are several software’s available like-

Wordtracker is the most popular and respected keyword research tool.

KeywordDiscovery have an extensive keyword database.

Google AdWords provide a keyword generation tool, to help you choose keyword variations.

In the last stage you must narrow down your Keyword choice to 2-3 words or phrases. Any more than this your web page will resemble crowded street.

Keyword Density

Keyword density is a calculation of how many times your keywords repeated in a page. The more times the keyword appears in relation to the total number of on page words, the greater the overall keyword density. There is no hard and fast rule for keywords but it’s best to keep the keyword percentage below five percent of the total number of words on the page.

A careful balance is needed too much and you end up on the crowded street, which users find exasperating and which search engines call spamming. (Search engines may penalize you for anything close to spamming).

Each search engine has a different mathematical equation concerning the density of keywords that is rewarded with higher search ranking placement. Different search engines have different criteria’s for keyword density. The best thing to do is use keyword density analyzers that calculate keyword density for given URLs.

Keyword Placement

Keyword placement refers to the location of the words on a Web page, some of the best places to put keyword are:

Page title

headings

As links

bold text

first 25 words on the page

URLs

META tags

In Short

Keywords are not a license to spill, using too many keywords or using them too often is the best way to loose customers and be kicked out by search engines. The best way to raise your SERPs is to research, plan and place your keywords carefully.

Pay-per-click advertisement

Pay-per-click advertisement: Present predicament and future alternatives
The phenomenal growth of pay-per-click advertisement amid uncertainties
Today pay-per-click advertising, by and large, is assumed to be one of the quickest and effective ways of promoting one’s business online. To many it is still an effective medium to get listed in the top of the search engines without having to undertake strenuous preparatory works for search engine optimization.

But the beginning was not the same as it is now. Rather this concept encountered bleeding teething problems in its progressive strides. The idea was not well-received; some critics even went to the extent of prophesying that it is definitely headed for a doom.

People questioned the rationale of paying any penny for getting web site in prominent positions where the search is exclusively keyword driven. They justified their proposition by saying that as against the banner ad, pay-per-click is relatively minor advertising stunt, and that too is not there all the time.
As of now, situations have taken a positive turn. The success saga of pay-per-click advertising is known to one and all. Now advertisers promptly bid on keywords, promising to pay certain amount of money every time someone clicks on their ad, which pops up when a search exercise is performed by any surfer.
Pay-per-click advertisement is in eye of the storm

Pay-per-click advertisement has grown over the years, but it has also become susceptible to what is referred to as “Click Fraud.” There are an increasing number of people, who have mastered the art of tampering with pay-per-click advertisement, and have posed a real threat to the prospects of pay-per-click advertisement for online advertisers and the companies offering them.
Click fraud comes into picture when a user -- accidentally or deliberately -- or a competitor with malafide intention, clicks on a business’ ad and subsequently disappears into the thin air. No actual use of the advertisement – mere clicking through. Such instances tend to inflate the earmarked advertising budget of the company which has chosen this medium for online sales and marketing. On the other side of the fence, it adds to earning potential of an affiliate web site which hosts pay-per-click advertisement campaign on behalf of select companies opting for this genre online advertising.

Statistics from the industry reveal that click frauds account for as high as 20 per cent for certain keywords. Further, estimate suggests that one out every five dollars spend on pay-per-click advertisement goes down the drain.
What led to the present messy situations?

Definitely the present state of pay-per-click advertisements has given its doom pundits a reason to rejoice, and they may be basking in their proud moments. Many companies have turned to the advantages of such kind of web promotion, while small and mid-sized firms have realized that pay-per-click- advertisement is particularly beneficial for them because they don’t have to put in much investment.

This was until click fraud did not begin to spread its ugly wings. Now it is a roller-coaster ride for companies, and they are wishing to have some way for plugging in the loopholes existing in the system.

Let’s understand the reasons for such messy state of affairs.

The “gold rush” can be blamed on more than one count. This fact is deplorable that it is excessively easy to publish pay-per-click advertising links from Google and Yahoo. What suffices for the purpose is joining Google AdSense or corresponding Yahoo program. Your business gets a fillip, and you do not have to spare even a penny.


It is highly inexpensive to purchase a domain name, and this is another major reason for the predicament pay-per-click advertisement is faced with. VeriSign, which runs the .com and .net domain names, offers domain names for as little as $6 to $7 per year. Hence, a web site hosting pay-per-click ads doesn't’t need to get many people clicking through its ads in order to turn a profit. To make it worse, there is five-day “Add Grace Period,” during which new registrations can be deleted for a full refund.
Is the time ripe for switching over to other online advertising model, if any?

Bill Gross was the force behind GoTo.com’s “pay-per-click” advertising model which heralded an era of pop-ups advertisement. GoTo.com was subsequently purchased by Yahoo in 2003, and later on Google also adopted a similar online advertising medium called AdWords. But click fraud inflicted them all.
Bill Gross’ new advertising model called cost-per-action holds answer to challenge posed by click fraud. The model aptly called cost-per-action is based on the premise that companies do not have to pay every time a user clicks on an ad and enter their web sites. Payment becomes obligatory only when clicking through an ad leads to a desired action, for instance, a purchase, filling out a firm, downloading some stuff and so forth. The bottom line in this model is that this is mutually beneficial this time around on an equitable basis.

This model is inherently and fundamentally strong not to give click fraud a chance. Click fraud occurs when someone visits an advertiser’s web site with malicious intention for securing pecuniary advantage or harming the interest of other partner. Since the advertiser is no longer under obligation to pay for damn mindless clicks, click fraud can’t happen.

Snap.com is leading from the front

This online advertising model, better described as “a next-generation search engine for broadband users.” was characteristic feature of Snap.com, which launched it for the first time. Snap.com has some other enabling technology going for it. It joins algorithmic search results together with human click stream data, and calls it “behavioral ranking.” The cardinal principle here is that sites which give people more value will rank higher than others who do not. Snap.com holds the reason that values are measurable in terms of quality of content and number of transactions completed. The higher the qualities of content, the longer surfers are likely to be engrossed is what Snap.com believes in.

Cost-per-action model seems to be all set to grow manifold. Sooner than the later, it will influence other search engines to adopt their own versions of its model and become more customer-centric. The possibility is not far off that this time around Bill Gross’s innovative approach is deservedly purchased by Google.